Movie Man: Harold and Maude’ a cult movie for gentle souls

Friday

Jun 29, 2012 at 12:01 AMJun 29, 2012 at 4:11 AM

Cult movies are the sort of films that used to lure audiences into the out-of-the-way theaters in the hours past midnight. Normally, that sort of audience is craving something different, daring and maybe even a little dangerous. That’s why cult movies usually feature gory violence (“Night of the Living Dead”), strange sexuality (“The Rocky Horror Picture Show”) or both (“Eraserhead”).

Will Pfeifer

Cult movies are the sort of films that used to lure audiences into the out-of-the-way theaters in the hours past midnight. Normally, that sort of audience is craving something different, daring and maybe even a little dangerous. That’s why cult movies usually feature gory violence (“Night of the Living Dead”), strange sexuality (“The Rocky Horror Picture Show”) or both (“Eraserhead”).

But even though “Harold and Maude” has a surprising amount of blood (all fake, even within the context of the movie) and a bit of offbeat romance (it is a love story involving a teenager and a senior citizen, after all), it’s so good-natured and life-affirming that it hardly seems like it came from the same era as those other movies. But it did.

The PG-rated film was released in 1971, directed by legendary Hollywood oddball Hal Ashby and found a dedicated audience after midnight in out-of-the-way theaters. (It played for more than two years straight in Edina, Minn., of all places.) It’s almost forgotten today, but hopefully that will change with the release of the new DVD and Blu-ray from Criterion.

We meet Harold (Bud Cort) as the opening credits roll and the first of many Cat Stevens songs plays on the soundtrack. He wanders through the living room of a mansion, pins a note to his coat, lights a few candles and, as director Hal Ashby’s credit comes onscreen, Harold jumps off a chair and hangs himself.

Then his mom (Vivian Pickles) walks in, and we realize this is just the latest of many fake suicides Harold has committed in a continuous attempt to get attention or break out of his rich kid’s life or taste death or, well, something. He’s a typical teen, after all, if a little richer (and weirder) than most. Harold also enjoys attending funerals of people he doesn’t know, and that’s where he meets Maude (Ruth Gordon), who has the same hobby. But while he is young and obsessed with death, Maude is old and obsessed with life. And she’s exactly what Harold needs.

Maude’s endless zest for life could become immediately annoying if it weren’t for two things: First, Ruth Gordon, who was 75 when the movie was made, manages to make her an endearing, fascinating character. She’s high-energy, sure, but that’s because she’s trying to make the most of every moment. And second, there’s a moment near the end of the movie when Harold (and the audience) glimpses something that reveals Maude’s life wasn’t always so upbeat and carefree — just the opposite, in fact, the ultimate opposite. It’s the sort of move most directors would oversell, beating the point into the viewer’s brain. But Hal Ashby makes it short and subtle. In fact, if you look away for a second, you’re going to miss it — but it makes all the difference in the world.

In the end, “Harold and Maude” isn’t about the plot (there barely is one) or the characters (they’re pretty simple). Instead, it’s about the mood Ashby establishes. There’s a breathtaking moment midway through the movie that cuts from Harold and Maude walking through a field of white flowers to them sitting in a cemetery of white crosses, and to me, that sums up the mood of the movie. Life is happy, life is sad and life is everything in between, but more than anything, life is for living. It might sound corny here, but it sounds a lot more profound with a Cat Stevens song playing in the background. Trust me on this one.

Contact Will Pfeifer at 815-961-5807 or wpfeifer@corp.gatehousemedia.com.

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